Identifying and Advocating Best Practices in the Criminal Justice System. A Texas-Centric Examination of Current Conditions, Reform Initiatives, and Emerging Issues with a Special Emphasis on Capital Punishment.

Monday, 07 October 2013

Supreme Court Rejects Warren Hill's Habeas Petition

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider Warren Hill’s
bid to halt his execution on grounds he is mentally retarded.

Hill’s
lawyers had filed the petition directly to the high court, saying they
now have evidence that shows they can prove Hill is mentally retarded
and thus ineligible for execution. But the high court on Monday issued
an order denying it.

And:

Hill’s execution remains on hold while the Georgia Supreme Court hears
his challenge to a new state law that keeps secret the identities of
those who make and supply Georgia’s lethal-injection drugs.

Warren Hill's attorney, Brian Kammer, has issued the following statement:

“We are gravely disappointed that the U.S. Supreme Court has failed to act to ensure the protection for persons with intellectual disability that was promised by the Court’s 2002 ruling in Atkins v. Virginia.

It is the unanimous opinion of all doctors who have examined him that Mr. Hill is a person with mental retardation. However, Mr. Hill has been procedurally barred from proving his exemption from capital punishment, which is why he brought his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, in the hopes that the Court would ensure that the evidence of his intellectual disability would be heard.

It is tragic that our highest court has failed to enforce its own command that persons with mental retardation are categorically ineligible for the death penalty.”

Because it has a specific meaning with respect to capital cases, I continue to use the older term on the website. More on Atkins v. Virginia, the Supreme Court's 2002 ruling banning the execution of those with mental retardation, is via Oyez.

Post a comment

(Name is required. Email address will not be displayed with the comment.)

Name is required to post a comment

Please enter a valid email address

Invalid URL

This weblog only allows comments from registered users. To comment, please enable JavaScript so you can sign in.

The StandDown Texas Project

The StandDown Texas Project was organized in 2000 to advocate a moratorium on executions and a state-sponsored review of Texas' application of the death penalty.
To stand down is to go off duty temporarily, especially to review safety procedures.

Steve Hall

Project Director Steve Hall was chief of staff to the Attorney General of Texas from 1983-1991; he was an administrator of the Texas Resource Center from 1993-1995. He has worked for the U.S. Congress and several Texas legislators. Hall is a former journalist.